Herewards House

Updated 28 May 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Herewards House is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with six members of staff this included the chef the registered manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also spoke with a visiting professional.

We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records this included each person’s medication administration record (MAR). In addition, we viewed five care plans and other records in relation to the way the service was run.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data.

Updated 28 May 2020

About the service

Herewards House is a residential care home and was providing personal and nursing care for 24 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. The service can support up to 27 people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Medicines were not managed and administered in line with good practice guidance. We observed medicine administration during our inspection and saw secondary dispensing took place. In addition, one person did not receive their medicines in line with the prescriber’s instructions. Self-administration of insulin did not follow safe practice and guidance.

Staff we spoke with confirmed they had received training in safeguarding and knew what action to take if they felt people were being abused. Recruitment files we viewed contained the relevant information to ensure staff were recruited safely.

Risks associated with people’s care and support needs had been identified and actions taken to minimise risks.

People we spoke with told us staff were kind and caring. They told us “Staff are kind and look after me well”, “I am very very lucky to be here.” We observed staff interacting with people in a positive way.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were supported to take part in activities. Activities were reliant on care staff and the service did not employ a specified member of staff for this.

There was a complaints procedure in place. People told us they knew how to make a complaint.

Some auditing took place, accidents and incidents were recorded and responded to effectively.

Staff and people told us the service was well run and they could always seek advice and support from the registered manager.

We have made a recommendation in relation to the providers auditing systems and reviewing consent agreements in relation to capacity.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The previous rating for this service was good (published 30 August 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Enforcement:

We have identified a breach in relation to safe care and treatment at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.